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Julie Christie,
Julie Christie,
George C. Scott,
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Richard Lester,
Richard Lester
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: 
: Warner Home Video
: Cult, Drama, Romance
: 105 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
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Recently Rented By Cinenaut
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Petulia is Richard Lester's ode to the Swinging Sixties: a time of psychedelic instability when neither those who were square, nor those who were hip, really had it right. George C. Scott is Archie Bollen, a divorced San Francisco doctor in the midst of "discovering himself." Julie Christie is Petulia Danner, a peculiar young beauty recently married into an established family. Archie's sterile apartment and detached, bemused manner exemplify his inability to emote. Petulia's forward nature and desperate tenderness betray her fear of her sullen, abusive, pretty-boy husband (Richard Chamberlain). The physician and the newlywed embark on a schizophrenic love affair amid Pepsi references, automated motels, roller derbies, and a cameo by Big Brother and the Holding Company -- but they never achieve the daring to truly change their lives. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
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| As Fractured as Its Heroine
by talltale
July 27, 2006 - 9:58 AM PDT
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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An artifact of the transitional 1960s, PETULIA is as fractured as its time period, its story-telling and its title character--played gracefully and honestly by the great Julie Christie, who helps turn what could be just a kook into a very real, very sad young woman. Director Richard Lester doesn't just fracture the time frame, he splinters the story and even the emotions you start to feel. All this lends the movie and its after-effect a kind of distance and chilliness that offer both dividends and drawbacks. Finally, the film seems most about our inability to connect, so perhaps Lester's choices serve to register this in the most appropriate manner.
In any case, the performances of Christie, George C. Scott, Shirley Knight (just wonderful!), Richard Chamberlain, Joseph Cotten, Kathleen Widdoes and Arthur Hill hold it all together. An added perk to viewing this unusual movie again, so many years after it was made, is to see--popping up all over the place--performers for whom "Petulia" was their first film work (or very close to that): Look for everyone from Rene Auberjonois to the late (and still-mourned) Barbara Colby, Richard A. Dysart, Ellen Geer, Howard Hesseman, Austin Pendleton, Mel Stewart and even Jerry Garcia and Janis Joplin! You won't soon again find a collection quite like this. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.52)
21 Votes
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